KARACHI: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff mission has begun review talks in Pakistan that will determine the release of the next tranche under the country’s $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the $1.4 billion Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), officials familiar with the discussions said on Thursday.
The visit marks the formal launch of negotiations under the third EFF review and the second RSF review, both seen as critical to sustaining Pakistan’s fragile economic recovery and maintaining external financing stability. The discussions are expected to focus on fiscal consolidation, monetary policy, structural reforms and climate-related benchmarks tied to the RSF program.
“The team is on the ground now,” an IMF official told Arab News, requesting not to be named as the talks are ongoing.
The visiting IMF mission began its meetings in Pakistan’s commercial capital, Karachi, where they met banking regulators at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the officials said.
Last week in Washington, IMF Director of Communications Julie Kozack said the staff team would begin review talks with Pakistani authorities from Feb. 25.
